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A decent first try but lacks in many areas...

Title: House
Author: Pws-AJ
Play Time: 20mins+ (Didn't finish)

HOUSE

A little generic, also consider that you're at an Inn and not a House...

Some preamble here, I downloaded and played House because my aim is to review games that don't have a lot of exposure or zero reviews. And I have to say I was a little disappointed overall with the experience. :(

STORY/WRITING:
I'll be brutally honest here, the writing isn't good. I could have sworn the developer said this was based on a book or short story? Looking back I can't find it so maybe I'm mistaken. So it's possible the story itself it based on another material.
Anyways, without going into the actual storyline too much this games suffers from stale and awkward dialogue. I would advise that the developer should consider a rewrite for a majority of the dialogue so it comes off more fluid and genuine.
At the beginning of the game the MC and his girl are driving and ultimately break down in the rain when a random stranger appears and tells them of the Inn nearby. It's a very jarring transition to get the player to the "House" because you have to imagine being stranded in the rain but a stranger nonchalantly comes about on foot and tells you of a safe place. I get the idea behind it, get the player to go where they need to be but it's definitely a bit off.

The writing is the area that really shows off that this is a first attempt at a game and is probably the main reason this game will get a lower review as the other elements aren't so blatantly sub-par.

While this is an image from the gamepage itself it kinda showcases the writing and this screen had been edited...

GRAPHICS:
Everything here is your standard VX ACE RTP(RunTime Package materials) from the tilesets and system graphics to the generated character Facesets.
Ahh, the facesets. The biggest complaint here is that the Main Character Male faceset is clean shaven but the character sprite has a beard.
Since it is RTP there isn't much to say about the graphics themselves so I'll focus on the mapping.
Which is very "first gamey" in that it has big open areas that could easily be smaller with more details added. To the developer: Most of the time Horror games crave a tight, detailed area. This is especially true for indoor/interior places, you want to give that claustrophobic feel to the player. Plus, it just looks better.
I have already pointed out areas in the game that could use some work or finesse to the developer so I'll close this part out with:

Waaay too big and empty, my friend.

I will add though, that the candlelight effect is neat and adds to the atmosphere but it does suffer from bugs as it will stop working in some areas.

MUSIC:
The music selection is basic but fitting. No real complaints here on the BGMs used and a BGS of rain where it's needed outside.
I'm not a huge stickler with music unless it is just absolutely off or bad quality/painful to listen to.
I do have a slight nitpick with the Sound Effects department in that when you enter a room there is an SE of a door opening/closing but once you live the room there is no SE at all. Very inconsistent. If you're going to add sound effects to some areas of the game then be sure to add sound effects to other places where it's feasible.

GAMEPLAY:
This game is intended to be a horror game, but with everything combined it is really hard to get invested and to actually experience that feeling of being scared.
So with that said, there isn't much of gameplay besides looking around and ultimately coming into contact with the murderer. You can always get a thrill out of being chased by a killer which is nice. So save often just in case you get jumped and get the gameover screen.
The game is pretty straight forward with its gameplay and it doesn't offer much because as I already stated the writing and mapping hurt the overall experience.

Overall, it isn't a very engaging or rewarding experience. I didn't finish the game, mind you. It was difficult to keep playing. :(
I suggest the developer take some notes from either myself or shayoko(who commented on the main page) to try and improve any future games. I do not wish this to hurt any future development from the developer but this game truly does suffer from so many variables that it is hard to play through.

Since it's complete and the developer might be interested in further development my score will reflect that of a poor game that needs great improvement to even hit average. Hopefully their next project will be better and more polished.

I'm sorry, but I can't say I'd recommend this game to anyone except for showing what not to do when making an RM game.